Interpersonal Conflict

Interpersonal conflicts are very common in our daily lives. As different people tends to have different views on the same issue.  Conflicts will definitely have an impact on relationship between people which may not always be a negative one. Some conflicts help to improve the understanding between people. The approach of handling the conflict plays an important role as it will affect the outcome. Sadly, there is no hard and fast rule in resolving conflict.

Back in my College time, I was the president of my school Chinese Orchestra Club. As the president, I was in-charge of organizing the practice schedule for my team. My vice president and I also have to oversee the whole rehearsal and ensure that everything runs smoothly.

There was an incident when my remedial class clashed with our practice. The vice president also had to attend a workshop but he expected the workshop to end before the practice. Therefore I passed our room key and all the responsibility to him. In the mid-day, I heard from friends, who will be attending the same workshop, that the workshop will be ending quite late. Immediately I tried to contact my vice president to confirm. He said that the timing was not stated clearly but he felt that he will be able to make it on time. Afraid that he will not be able to make it in time, I called off the practice. He was unhappy with my decision as our performance is round the corner and every practice is precious. However in my point of view, I felt that punctuality is an important aspect in our club and I do not wish to portray a negative example. On top of that, calling it off will minimize our loss as we were already very low on budget. Despite having different views, both of us meant well for the club.

Do you think there is a better way in dealing with such a situation?